It's jail for the Post Office Grinch who stole thousands in charity donations

A Chicago area postal worker has been sentenced to 30 months in jail after pleading guilty to stealing more than $275,000 worth of donations addressed to a charity on his delivery route. (AP Photo)

A former U.S. Postal Service deliveryman who stole nearly 30,000 donations worth more than $275,000 to charities on his delivery route will spend the next two and a half years in jail.

Frederick L. Tayler of Chicago pleaded guilty in August to stealing the envelopes containing the donations that were intended for an unnamed charity based in Berwyn, Illinois. At his pleading, Taylor admitted having 29,403 envelopes addressed to the charity at his residence.

Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve imposed the 30-month sentence and ordered Taylor to make restitution in the amount of $275,911 to a third-party administor to make the charity whole. The Taylor case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Service Inspector-General.

"Stealing mail and its contents, or preventing delivery of donations to a charity organization as occurred in this case, is a serious crime that carries stiff consequences as this sentence demonstrates," said Scott Caspall, the USPS IG's Executive Special Agent-in-Charge of its Chicago office.

"The message is clear: postal employees who steal or abandon mail will be throwing away their postal career and face criminal prosecution and jail time," he said.